


In or Out

by rose_willow



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Happy Ending, How Do I Tag, Literal Sleeping Together, Mentions of Violence, Queerplatonic Relationships, could be read as jigen/lupin, i see them more as a queerplatonic partnership but that's just my thing, i wrote this as an excuse for them to hug, nothing graphic tho, references the movie so spoilers, set shortly after jigen's gravestone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:15:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22869217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rose_willow/pseuds/rose_willow
Summary: Set shortly after "Jigen's Gravestone".Lupin is haunted by memories of Jigen's death.
Relationships: Jigen Daisuke & Arsène Lupin III
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	In or Out

**Author's Note:**

> I just discovered this show (see the convo I had with my co-worker that started with "Have you ever heard of Lupin III?") because I saw THAT gif of Jigen putting his hat on from "Lupin the First" (you know the gif I'm talking about) and wow am I in deep! In the week since I've found it, I've bought and watched several of the films, binged part 1, and purchased some of the issues of the manga. After watching "Jigen's Gravestone", which was the first film I watched, I could not get this scene out of my head and I just had to write it.   
> I love that good queerplatonic cuddling, so this happened. Also, I just kinda see Jigen as this asexual figure. Am I projecting? Maybe. But I also play Ace Attorney and if you don't have evidence, you don't have anything.   
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. I'm already thinking about some other possible fics for this fandom, so stay tuned because who knows what will happen.

He didn’t really remember waking up. Didn’t remember getting out of bed and padding through their dark hideout in his socks. Didn’t remember the bars that the moon had cast across the wall from the windows. Normally, they would have instilled some level of distaste in him. He didn’t even notice them this time. 

A floorboard creaked beneath his soft steps. If he’d been thinking about it, trying to remain silent and sneak in somewhere, he could have avoided that, felt the slight give of the wood before it had time to make noise and replaced his foot somewhere else. He’d totally forgotten about sneaking as he’d been drawn through the hideout. 

Fear gripped his mind. What if it had been a dream? Not the whole situation. That’d be too easy. Just the ending. Just the part where he hadn’t actually  **not** been shot through the head. 

_ “Your death felt true to life.”  _

An offhand comment. One that he hadn’t thought about at the time. An actual honest admittance. 

Because kneeling there, in a pool of fake blood, with Jigen limp in his arms, it had felt  _ real _ . For a few minutes, in the time that it took for Okuzaki to leave, Jigen had been dead and Lupin had been responsible. His partner’s - friend’s - blood had stained his fingers and his jacket and he could remember the feel of Jigen’s back as he held him. How he hadn’t moved or breathed. How he’d allowed himself to be moved and positioned like he was a corpse. Lupin’s steel-trap of a mind, honed to remember the smallest of details and the last digits of long combinations, couldn’t forget. 

Which brought him to where he was, now; pushing open the door to his partner’s room. He stood in the doorway, gazing at the moon-cast shadows across Jigen’s body. He focused on his back so he could see it rise and fall with slow, sleepy breaths. 

The knot in his chest loosened. The anxiety clawing at Lupin’s mind eased, becoming more manageable. He felt his own breaths and it suddenly didn’t feel like he was suffocating as he matched them to Jigen’s. 

“In or out,” Jigen groaned from under the blanket. 

Lupin hid a knowing grin in the darkness of the doorway.  _ “In or out.”  _ An old routine. An old line. One that he seemed to hear on nights like this, when some heist gone wrong had left one of them in a situation where survival was uncertain. 

Like the times before, he closed the door behind him and stepped further into the room. Shuffled steps took him to the side of Jigen’s bed, a small twin that they both knew was too small for two people. That didn’t stop Jigen from lifting the blanket up to allow Lupin to slide in beside him. It didn’t stop Lupin from slotting himself against Jigen’s chest, arms wrapped around his back and head tucked under Jigen’s chin. Their legs tangled together and the blanket dropped back down to cover them both. Lupin felt Jigen’s arms tentatively wind around his back before all hesitation evaporated and Jigen was clutching him against his chest. 

They didn’t say anything. Lupin lay in the darkness, breathing in the scent of whiskey and cigarette smoke, and listening to the sound of Jigen’s strong heart beneath his sternum. He pressed his forehead deeper into the crook of Jigen’s neck and closed his eyes against the soft fabric of his shirt. A few minutes later, Jigen’s breathing evened out again and his heart slowed in sleep. The hands that had clutched at the shirt on Lupin’s back uncurled, leaving him limply wrapped around Lupin. 

With Jigen’s heartbeat now in his ear, Lupin finally dropped down into a somewhat restful sleep. He didn’t mind the few times through the night when Jigen would jerk awake, breathing fast and shallow, hands spasming around the handle of a gun that wasn’t there. When he did, Lupin would wake up too and hold him close. He’d press his forehead into Jigen’s chest and rub circles across his back, wordlessly coaxing the muscles to relax again.

He’d stay awake until Jigen’s hands unclenched from his shirt and his breathing evened out and then Lupin would slide back under. 

And in the morning, when moonlight had been replaced by sunlight and the next heist was waiting, they wordlessly uncurled from around each other and got dressed. Jigen would make coffee, dark and potent, and Lupin would start through the newspapers and latest news reports, looking for their next target.

A few days later, when Lupin’s mind once more wouldn’t let go of the feeling of Jigen’s limp body in his arms and the fake blood became real in his nightmares, he found himself in Jigen’s doorway again, watching his partner sleep. 

And Jigen, from beneath his blanket, invited, “In or out.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize if it seems OOC. I'm still wrestling with their characters. They're pretty complex which I love. It gives something nice to think about through my long days at work.   
> Thank you for reading!


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